Here’s Betsy DeVos’ statement on the President’s budget request, it seems lukewarm as these things go. “I look forward to continuing to engage with Congress as we roll out the President’s priorities and put the needs of students first” she said. That’s (a) patently untrue. No cabinet official looks forward to this but (b) she’s hoping they fix some of this. That’s budget politics. A 13 percent cut to your agency in your first year on the job will make a great joke on the dinner speech circuit some day but for now is a problem. Not even a lot of enthusiasm from the Rs. It’s all fun and games until someone cuts after-school funding. (Also, in that article, the Zumba lobby is ferocious.)

Speaking of budget politics, yesterday was “the sky is falling!” day of anti-budget messaging. Today is “this is at odds with the research” day. Who knew all these programs had so much research?

Be sure to check out The Line, a new publication in education led by John Deasy. I’m on the advisory board and some cool stuff coming.

It seems very likely that the SCOTUS is going to strike down today’s agency fee arrangements for public employees and basically make every state a right to work state. Teachers unions are preparing for this now. If you want to see how that might play out, Wisconsin is a good place to examine. Matt Barnum takes a look at the scene there.

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